What to do & Where to go this Easter?

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Friday, April 18, 2014

For many Nigerians, the Easter period marks a time of reflection, rest and celebration with family and friends. In Lagos, there is always a sense of both calm and chaos; although the roads are no longer full of traffic, music and laughter can be heard all across the city. This year is no exception, and Jovago has created a mini-guide to the upcoming Easter weekend to make sure that you and your loved ones make the most of the time together!

To do:

Lagos Easter Water Regatta

For a fun and cultural afternoon, we’d highly recommend a look at the Lagos Water Regatta on Easter Sunday. The Regatta is a cultural festival of indigenous communities and is put together to showcase what the various coastal communities have to offer in terms of water sport and cultural beauty. The event usually has a 50,000 strong turnout on the day, and the beautiful waterfront of Lagos Island seems like the perfect place to kick back for the afternoon.

The Lagos Carnival

The Lagos Carnival is an enormously popular event every year and this year promises to be even bigger and better. Starting on Easter Monday at 10am, you can either walk with the bands from Awolowo Road, Ikoyi to Tafawa Balewa Square or go directly to the square. Let yourself be dazzled by the colourful costumes and music, and bust out your best dance moves with the rest of the crowd. It’s guaranteed to have a great party atmosphere that’s perfect to share with friends.

To eat:

Senses Restaurant - Cascade Resort

For those in search of a slice of luxury this Easter weekend, look no further than Senses Restaurant within the Cascade Resort in Lagos. Star chef Luís Batalha works meticulously with his first-class team to deliver impeccable dishes that are a feast for the eyes and the stomach! This spectacular restaurant would make the perfect family meal this Easter, but make your reservations as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Ocean Basket Seafood Restaurant

If you are looking for something a little different, then Ocean Basket is a great destination on Victoria Island for a taste of the sea with friends and family. The menu offers a large range of platters to share or individual dishes, and is highly praised for the freshness of their ingredients. Upstairs is usually a little bit quieter, so it’s the ideal location for an easy-going weekend lunch.

To stay:

Best Western The Island

The Best Western The Island Hotel is a beautiful oceanfront hotel located in Victoria Island, Lagos and ideal for both business and leisure travellers. The Hotel would be the perfect place to spend your Easter break with your family as it features suites, ocean view rooms, free parking, high speed internet and airport shuttle services.

Morning Side Suites

Morning Side Suites is a charming boutique hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos. With a nice restaurant, swimming pool, bar, a lounge and a fitness room, this hotel would be the perfect home away from home this Easter. 

These hotels and many more are available to book online at Jovago.com.ng - we wish you all a happy and peaceful Easter break.

About Jovago

Jovago.com is an online hotel booking service headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and was founded by Africa Internet Holding in 2013. By listing travel destinations and providing hotel information online, Jovago facilitates the booking process for its users. Africa’s No.1 Booking Portal provides its customers with the best hotel booking experience and with fast, reliable and easy-to-use services. Jovago is run by a team of 50 and has the best curated hotels in Africa and around the world.

The 'Witchcraft' of Technology

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Tuesday, September 03, 2013

It would have been hard to believe this TV spot back in the year 2010. Many of the advancements shown in it look like serious far-fetched science fiction. Apparently all this is meant to make life simpler and more compacted but at the same time it kind of also looks complex.

But hey...that's probably because of the fact that its meant for the future. By the time they all surface, it would all be simple.

Check out all the technology we have today with all the ipads, androids, insane smart phones et al - these things were not that common far back then. It shows that technology is rapidly evolving.

And its becoming tough catching up. There's so much coming up.

Watching the video again, I can't help but just sigh...this is definitely witchcraft on a tech level...lol.

MTN Humiliates Etisalat!

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Tuesday, April 23, 2013

History has been made in the Nigerian telecoms industry again with the availability to switch from one network to another while still retaining the same number.

People have wondered what consequences this would hold for both the telecoms industry and the consumers. Well from the looks of it, the consumers have quite a lot to gain while the telecoms have a lot to do to sustain their subscriber base.

And MTN made the smart move before any other telecom could.

On the day the porting service would kick off (which was yesterday) MTN immediately launched a TV commercial that not only put them in the forefront but landed a HUGE slap on another competitor - etisalat!

Saka & Princess in an old etisalat commercial

If you've ever watched etisalat's past commercials, you'd probably have come across the series popularized by Hafiz Oyetoro also known as 'Saka' in the Nollywood circuit. Saka was prominent in etisalat's SIM registration commercials last year during the period when telecoms were doing promos to get people registered on their networks. In fact, Saka ended up creating more prominence for the network due to his outstanding comedic performances. At some point, Princess, another ace comedian came on the scene as Mrs. Saka.

Unfortunately, despite the frequency of appearance on etisalat's commercials, Saka was never signed on as a brand ambassador; he was only paid per commercial.

This was might have been a big mistake on etisalat's part. If Saka was never signed on fully, he may not be fully bound by any contract.

So when the need for Porting networks was announced, MTN moved in action and swooped in on Saka. And thus the big slap on etisalat.

How humilaiting!

People had become used to seeing Saka on etisalat. Now they will see him singing in the new MTN TVC saying 'I don port oh!' meaning he has switched from etisalat to MTN!

What a way to get etisalat users considering the MTN network.

 The die has been cast...now I'm sure legal skirmishes will begin. But whatever the case, the commercial is out and its getting people talking...and hopefully porting.

The Most Annoying Web Ad So Far

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Saturday, February 02, 2013

Has anyone ever come across the Ad pictured below?

It's an interactive Ad which compels you to kill a roach darting about the space in order to win an iPhone. When you move your mouse over the square space, the slipper or sandal moves with it and when you click to kill the roach, another page pops up advertising stuff as usual.

I'm not against creative and sometimes leading advertising like this but the visual of that roach darting about creeps me out. Fact is, I hate roaches and kill them anytime I see them with disgust and anger. This Ad almost made me want to smash my screen as the roach was getting on my nerves.

This has no doubt got to be the most annoying Web Ad I've come across so far.

Or am I the only one who sees this?

Ufuoma Ejenobor & Hubby Welcome First Child

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Monday, October 15, 2012

 

 

 

I couldn't resist putting up a congratulatory post for Ufuoma Ejenobor and her hubby, Steve Mcdermott on the arrival of their first child. Ufuoma is a rising nollywood actress while Steve is a Advertising practitioner who I once worked with (now you see why I had to put this up!).

 

 

Ufuoma

 

 

 

Steve

The couple was blessed with a baby boy on wednesday 10th of October. Congrats to the couple and most especially Steve who was my Creative Director way back. Then he was still single. He later got married to Ufuoma nearing his final days with the company in April 2010.

You'd hardly see a pic of Steve online but I happen to be in possession of some.
Oh...and that's not his new son in the pic for those of you gossip bloggers who'd want to copy it and start lying about the net that you got a pic of Steve and his son!

Boy Wrapped by Python - Did you gawk it?

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Thursday, August 30, 2012

This picture of a Python wrapped round a boy seems to making a lot of rounds on some Nigerian sites and people have condemned the scenario saying its inhuman and flagrant child abuse. This means that they all had a bias towards what they saw.

Of course that's what the photography was meant to achieve...to shock people who view it into believing that  National Geographic catches wildlife scenes live.

But what if this photo was faked?

Most people didn't think about that on these sites.

This photo looks obviousl staged on a number of counts:

• The Python could have been a dead one wrapped round the boy's leg

• Notice the way the boy is holding onto the Python...it looks more like he's supporting it rather than struggling with it,

• There were two cameramen - the one filming the boy and the one that took the photo. The cameraman seems to be deliberately kept out of view.

• The picture is no doubt an Ad that applies the use of photography which speaks for the National Geographic brand. If you visit sites like www.adsoftheworld.com, you'll come across a lot of photography staged for the shock and attention value. 

So if you think this was the capturing of child abuse in action...take a look again!

Image Courtesy: www.mercyjohnson.com

MTN Ultimate Wonder or Wayo?

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Thursday, August 23, 2012

If you happen to have been in touch with programming in Nigerian TV stations, then you might have seen the numerous TV commercials where all manner of promos offering freebies pervade the screens at almost any commercial break. Its so rampant that promos are fast becoming cliches on TV today.
So, in order to get the attention of viewers which seems to be dying out, the advertising brands are making efforts to sound refreshing in the nature of their promo campaigns.

Among the telecom giants; Airtel, Globacom, MTN and Etisalat, its now evident that the competition is hot as they gone into a frenzy of dashing their customers freebies in form of free airtime once you load a certain amount of airtime. (Wait a minute...did I mention Glo? Scratch that! They are not giving free credit!) The craze was actually preempted by Etisalat who gave so much freebies that subscribers (including yours truly) rushed to acquire their lines.

So it was to my utter flabbergastment when I saw this insane MTN promo called 'MTN Ultimate Wonder' which is currently running on air - they claim first prize is an aircraft!

Either this is some intelligent 419 move or MTN is just playing smart with Nigerians. With all the available brand of cool rides that one can parade as grand prizes, these guys called the bluff and went on to offer an aircraft! Wetin person wan take aircraft do? And we see On-Air Celebrity/Comedian Yaw alongside some unknown dude charting the course and telling us how cool this offer is...yeah right! Though there is the claim that you can take the money of the cost of the aircraft rather than collect the aircraft, but really, that is a lot of money and from what I've seen from the business scenario in Naija, there's no such thing as 'free money'...they've gotta take something back.





But seriously, how many Nigerians will fall 'mugu' to this promo? I'm even wondering how this commercial managed to pass through APCON and other vetting bodies to make it to the screen. I know how these vetting bodies seriously scrutinize Ads before they get aired.

Anyhow...this Ultimate Wonder Wayo is just too much to stomach; Ads may have tricked us into patronizing a lot of brands over time but this one is just too much to stomach. And many viewers can clearly see the deceit under the lining.

I love the comment someone made over the commercial on youtube:
"All lies! MTN we are not fools. Use all this money to improve your network!"

MTN, please come up with a more believable promo that can REALLY offer what is being promised; take a cue from etisalat, a network that's gives away a lot of believable freebies!